Let's see: ACP in April, Gobbie Satchel in May...

OK, my FFXI purchases are set...

And, yes, I am purchasing the Security Token -- and, no, I do not trust that Square-Enix can keep the system robust enough to keep it entirely secure, even with the token.

So, as I said before, it all came down to what the in-game item is.

AND HOLY FREAKING CRAP...

The in-game item is the Mog Satchel.

The Mog Satchel is ANOTHER MOGGIE BAG.

And that's what it is. If you have a moggie bag with 70 items, this gives you ANOTHER 70 items to work with. If it'll have 80 by that point, another 80...

Release date is with the update. $9.99 with the shipping on the token...

So, RDM and SMN get royally screwed, I see...

Got a comment a couple days ago from one of the other prominent TTTO bloggers about why the Hell I'm so negative about a lot of what I post about this update...

Updates like today's are a good start.

Today, they announced "updates" on SMN and RDM...

After making WHM into a stud of Vana'diel, it seemed, people were looking forward to the updates for RDM and SMN since FanFest...

And what they got... KER and SPLAT.

RDM first:

Composure: Lvl 50 RDM -- 5 min recast and duration (so it can be on all the time).

Increases (magic) accuracy. Increases effect of buffs you put on yourself. Penalty to casting time.

Ooh brother...

And that penalty to casting time is on ALL magic, including ninjitsu. RDM/NIN ain't gonna like that one.

En-spells level II -- Lvl 50-60. Increases elemental damage strength which each initial strike up to a limit + resistance to its opposite element lowered.

WHAT THE F....??? Almost no one uses En-level I's - and now you think they're going to get in line for these???

(We interrupt this message for a PSA from Starcade:

CLEAN UP THE FUCKING RMT!! That's the fourth son of a bitch in about 48 hours on Leviathan from the same goddamned website!!!

We now return you to our scheduled programming...)

And that's apparently all for the Red Mages.

Summoners:

Of course, the big holding of breath is for the two new large summons...

Breaths are still being held. I begin to wonder if those new summons are EVER coming.

Basically, buff Pacts are now going to be about the area of effect of Protectra.

The buff Pact Hastega will, in fact, nullify slow when Haste itself does.

The large-scale Rage Pacts will have their damage adjusted...

And that's it -- at least for this update.

WHERE ARE THE NEW SUMMONS?

WHY DO WE EVEN PLAY MELEE JOBS IN YOUR WORLD???

Sheez... Lame...

I can see I'm not the only person aggravated about the Internet...

Too many more of these goddamn pigs, and you probably won't have to worry about me being around.

I see enough of this fucking shit in FFXI, and my roommate and friend really doesn't need the aggravation.

My roommate was on an online carnival for a cancer charity she works for and supports (please help support the Relay for Life), and, several hours ago, a bunch of little motherfucking children decided they wanted to disrupt the event.

Griefers.

And they ran off before they could get banned and ran right back onto the area to disrupt things further the moment the admins of the area left.

Now, why do I mention this?

First, if you ever see my name in the evening news (again) for getting myself arrested for bloodying some faces, please be not surprised. Hell, I came thisclose to having a major incident at an anime convention two years ago (ever heard of the poem "A Day Late and a Gun Short of a Shooting Rampage?" That was me about Memorial Day 2007 in San Jose, CA).

Second, I see so much of this shit in FFXI (the incident above was NOT in FFXI) that I'm about to lose what little remaining restraint I've had the last several years.

If some of these idiots want real grief, they'll get it -- from me or someone else.

I'm sick and tired of a bunch of fuckwad little children who basically feel they are above everything. Sabotage, griefing, me-first, ninjar-ing lots, botting, cheating, duping, the RMT fuckwads on that one website -- another one today...

I mean, what, you guys want to be "G" or "hardcore" or that...

Trust me, you don't know "hardcore".

Spend a year in Riker's Island and then get back to me about fucking "hardcore".

Lose your soulmate to cancer and then get back to me about fucking "hardcore".

Try to carry on with a lot of you little boys and girls out there (who know who you are) and then get back to me about fucking "hardcore"...

I don't know if you want to descend into the ghetto culture or whatever the fuck you want, but, trust me -- you are descending into a place (and this is talking simply economics here, not to mention the "Mad Max" which is coming soon to the entire culture) from which you will not return. You really want it that bad? It'll cost you everything.

Wake up and smell the coffee, children, and get right.

You know, I'm legitimately shocked I'm not banned from FFXI yet for the contents of my blog. I sense that won't be the case much longer...

A small update, and a little note I wrote for the Special Task Force...

First things first:

Really didn't get that far this week. No levels, that I remember.

Basically did some Campaign Ops that I've never done before, planted the Cerrunos Bulb, gotten 2 more DRG merits and almost a third, several quests which had been hanging for a while...

Wed. Dynamis: Sandy. Not going to be able to finish Wed. Dynamises for some time, but did help in a very effective win.

====

Well, needless to say someone has to poke Square-Enix with The Sharp Stick again. Two more RMT fuckwads from that same website got nailed again tonight.

So I wrote this, taking the website name out of it:

I've said it before -- I'll say it again.

CLEAN UP YOUR DAMN GAME!!!!

I'm serious. Two _MORE_ SITE DELETED people were all over Leviathan tonight, and, about an hour or two after the first one went off, the second followed.

Here's a hint if you haven't figured it out yet: RMT has adjusted their strategy to remain one step ahead (at least!) of Square-Enix. They do not give a damn about losing individual characters. That strategy does not work anymore.

It is time to go after the damn websites.

It is time to go after the damn websites.

IT IS TIME TO GO AFTER THE DAMN WEBSITES.

Clear enough for you? Your company just got a six-figure judgement against several companies illegally selling swords similar to ones in other FF games. Why you can't go after these websites is beyond me.

And if you truly cannot, then it's time to throw in the towel and legalize RMT. I said it.

Any action which does not shut down the _company_ behind these organized RMT rings like SITE DELETED will fail. WILL fail.

Or are you too damn scared, like you are about the bots and third-party software you're supposed to be banning people over (which has gotten so bad that some of these bots are almost certainly polluting the connection on _your side of the equation_), that if you actually try to enforce your rules, you won't have a game left because so few people play legitimately??

Wake up and smell the coffee. Ban botters, sue RMT out of existence, or do yourselves a real favor and devote all your energies to making Rapture robust and pull the plug on what is, more and more, becoming a freaking farce!

====

And that's not even The Letter, which is sitting, completed, in my computer, awaiting if I can find an actual place to send the whole damned thing.

We have a date, a Bonanza, and a trailer...

... and I'm only moderately impressed by the second, and not at all by the third.

First, the date for the update and the release of ACP is Wednesday, April 8.

Usually, these updates are on Mondays, but they decided to put this one on a Wednesday. Well, there goes our Wednesday Dynamis for the week.

Second, the trailer for ACP (A Crystalline Prophecy) is up on the FFXI Add-On site.

*waffle*

Ehh, it certainly can't do much of anything to reassure players about the long-term future of FFXI. It almost appears that, once the mini-expansions run their course, that's about it.

This seems almost to be a "full circle" effect -- "It all began with a stone, or so the legend says..."

It now appears it's all going to end with one as well. Perhaps this is the "prophecy" of Vana'diel's Armageddon.

(With the way the players are acting, I almost wish it'd come much faster than it is.)

But the trailer doesn't seem to add anything -- it almost seems to indicate that the Beastmen we've become so familiar with will change (probably become stronger) as a result of this huge crystal shining in the sky or something...

And, is it just me, or does every character in the artwork look like the world just ended??

We'll see... If I'm not banned by April 8 for my blog or something I say in a Besieged, I'll find out along with you.

And then, the announcement of the Mog Bonanza for the seventh anniversary.

Several changes, but not the fundamental one I thought would happen (the fact that it's still a lottery, of sorts).

Basically, here's how it works:

For 2000 gil, you purchase a 5-digit number on a Bonanza Marble. It can be, like a normal lottery, either a Quick Pick (random number) or your own pick.

You can buy up to 10 per character.

At the end of the lottery, five 5-digit numbers are drawn, one for each level of prize.

For the 5th level prize, you match the last digit (only) of the 5th-level prize number drawn.
For the 4th level prize, you match the last two digits of the 4th-level prize number drawn.

and so forth, each level up to the 1st-level, the Grand Prizes, being all five digits of the 1st-level prize number drawn.

So that's all the same that it was last year.

There are several changes:

1) The gil prizes for the top three levels are now what would be called "pari-mutuel".

What this means is that the amount of gil put into the lottery will determine how much gil the winners of the top level prizes would get, should they choose gil.

Half the money goes to the Grand Prize winners -- roughly a quarter each to the next two levels.

Of course, you can choose items and equipment...

2) And there's some interesting new options for winners on all levels for items and equipment.

Rank 5 -- the lowest level, now has, to add to the Miratete's Memoirs (XP scroll), the in-game statues that are coming out, as well as several of the exclusive Battle Circle "invitations", including Mercenary Camp and several others.

Rank 4 is basically now mostly ultra-level crafting items (Wootz Ores and the like), and a couple of equipment pieces.

Rank 3 -- along with splitting 27% of all the gil brought in, has several even better items (Imp. Wootz Ingots), and, most interestingly, a coupon for the relic armor (AF2) item of your choice which drops from Dynamis-Beaucedine.

Rank 2 -- along with splitting 23% of all the gil brought in (among fewer players), basically gets into the ultra-endgame stuff, with also the possibility of choosing a coupon for the relic armor (AF2) item of your choice from Dynamis-Xarcabard.

(Cool music in Dynamis-Xarcabard, by the way...)

Rank 1 -- along with half the gil brought in (probably almost looking at the possibility of the 100 million again), is all the insane shit (K. Club, D. Ring, Ridill, blah blah blah...)

I'd still probably take the gil and be able to buy at least two of the items or so.

So some realignment there.

3) To answer possible concerns on Square-Enix making RL money off of this (including mine), new rule for this year: To buy marbles, you must have a character which has been on the game for at least 45 days before you can purchase marbles in the second half of May.

Good call. (One of the few which Square-Enix has made recently.)

So, we'll see how it goes...

I had to turn down an interesting offer today...

I actually got an offer to be on "Ferociously Feofi" today...

Heh.

The show is actually called "Elegantly Edwyth", and Edwyth (and Feofi, apparently) both recently moved to Leviathan.

So I get on after my run today, and I am almost immediately met (as I go to plant my Cerrunos Bulb for the WotG mission "Daughter of a Knight" -- have Spectral Jig and an immediate way out, and you should be fine) with a tell from Edwyth, who was referred to me by someone who, though well-intentioned, probably picked the wrong guy from the start.

Edwyth is going to do a show in the near future (his next EE) on how Vana'diel has changed in the last five years. He wanted "different opinions". So he asked me.

I turned him down. For one reason, which should be no secret to readers of this blog:

If you were to put me on any of the major FFXI podcasts right now, the result would be an abjectly unairable flame-fest. As I said, I have very little regard for the Final Fantasy XI player-base, especially after the last few months.

Frankly, it probably would be in the best interests of Square-Enix to ban me from FanFest by now, because there's no reason to believe that seeing half the major podcast players would not result in me punching one or more of them (or getting thrown out for wanting to).

Yeah, I'm that pissed.

So, though I thank Edwyth for the offer, I had to turn it down. I have that little respect, regard, or trust for the Final Fantasy XI players (or the bulk of people who represent them), and the only reason I continue to play FFXI at all is to spite the cheaters, the frauds, and those who tolerate them.

There are days that I think Square-Enix wants us all to be Tarutaru...

Does Square-Enix even give a damn about melee classes??

I mean, don't mages have enough of an advantage over melee classes without basically making WHM over into an even more effective healer?

Does Square-Enix even want there to be such a thing as a Galka anymore?

Today, they basically came out with some of the fine-tuning of WHM, and they really bumped it up.

Enhancements based on the amount of healing done (or damage taken)...

They finally get Esuna...

And a probably AoE Cure that might not even require one to be in the party...

I mean, it really sounds to me as if their dream party would be six cute wittle Taru, 5 to burn, 1 to heal.

Ergh...

Thoughts on next door idiots and the version update...

First, something I know Aneiro won't like:

I don't really care for a lot of Mexicans either -- though I like the soccer... Problems can result when you get a new next door neighbor who decides that his Mexican music has to drown out the entire fucking neighborhood!!

Ever hear of headphones?? Even I have a good pair... But it's "all for us and nothing for you", right??

If I'm not in prison by FanFest, I'll probably be at the point to be banned from there for starting something there...

---

Anyway, on to Final Fantasy XI stuff:

The April update. Some quickie thoughts:

Crystalline Prophecy

I know they're looking at making this content group-based again (which I do not like and do not trust enough players to do so), but the new gear is quite interesting and we got some stats today!

Nuevo Coselete: DEF 49 HP +20 STR, VIT, DEX +5 each -- two more augments

75 WAR PLD DRK SAM DRG

There are probably three different "paths" -- probably nation-based or something (or are these choices like the rings at the end of CoP?) -- to the Crystalline Prophecy storyline (and, by the end of the three mini-expansions, they better have added enough content to equal a full expansion between them).

This sounds like a fairly good bit of tank gear for DD. Interesting on how it can be augmented to help out, but this is a good start. Judging from the list provided, they definitely want this to be high-end gear which people are going to want to obtain.

Royal Redingote: DEF 40 MP +20 INT, MND, CHR +5 each -- two more augments

75 mage jobs

It's clear they want to use this and Augments as a means to get new high-end gear that's obtainable without cheating, botting, or duping (good luck!!!). Of course, you can only have one of these items at a time (whether that means simply Rare/Ex or one of any of the three new body pieces is, as yet, slightly unclear).

And, kind of halfway in between, for the rest of the 75's:

Mirke Wardecors DEF 42 HP and MP +10 each STR, DEX, AGI +5 each -- two more augments

Not a bad start - let's see the storyline and the requirements...

For ACP: Rise of the Zilart is required. Chains of Promathia and Wings of the Goddess are, apparently, not. Might give you an idea of some of the places you need to go.

New WotG Nation Quests

Sounds to me as if "Crossroads of Time" is going to be another "In the Name of the Father", with these quests required to progress forward toward the end of the WotG storyline. Let's beat the big tree and the Battle of Jeuno first.

Augments

Depending on if they can be abused and cock-blocked by high-level players, it could be a really fun way to help people who aren't so elite to get more enjoyment out of FFXI.

Campaign-Control Notorious Monsters

Good to hear Square-Enix listens on one thing: This means that areas under control of a nation of the Allied Forces will be able to spawn NM's specific to that area. This makes control of areas actually important, so you "Max out my XP and fuck the Crystal War" fuck-tards can kiss our asses.

Fields of Valor expands to Zilart areas and diversifies (and NM's of it's own!)

Not only do we add Zilart areas to Fields of Valor, but also each area which has Fields of Valor will now have a Training Manual for each zone in the area, so you don't have to go to Valkurm to get a La Thiene training regime.

Also, for certain costs, you can do NM's here as well -- one question will be how levels will be limited, etc.

Gobbiebag expansion to the final extent...

The final two Gobbiebag quests are going to be in this update, expanding the Gobbiebag to 80 items. The only thing is whether this will involve items (probably WotG/FoV NM-obtainable), NM fights, or BCNM fights... I hope it's not just "bring me four items"...

So there's a lot of material, and even more potential... But we will see...

Quick update, and I learn the definition of "epic fail"...

Last week:

DRG 75 (YES!! Fuck you to all the cheating bitches...) and my first DRG merit.
RDM 61

Completed the entire Dancer AF1 set.

Completed "Dancers in Distress" in the past and started "Daughter of a Knight"...

And then, today, I learned the definition of "Epic Fail"...

Dynamis-Xarcabard with about 25 people, and someone dead set on going for the 15 NM's...

Wiped twice, only killed 12 of them... Needless to say, our LS is not ready for that.

Hmm... Do they really make the rulings or just go the "easy route"??

Let's just say that, if you've been reading this blog, you can tell I'm not always 100% sure if the GM's are actually making the rulings correctly, instead, just going the route of least resistance.

Let's just say I got a quizzical ruling on something I encountered tonight.

As one may know from reading here, I, from time to time, will farm gil by going to the Promyvions (I now use Holla, since it has Fears and Pains), using my Dragoon to make the process easier.

Well, earlier this week, I finally got my Dragoon to 75.  Woo hoo, fuck you to all the cheaters, and all that jazz...

I decided to take my Dragoon into Limit Point mode and farm a few things because I spent about 150K or so getting the necessary materials to complete the entire DNC AF1 set, and because I need to get another Sole Sushi stack and another Reraise Earring before Sunday for Dynamis.

I noticed something once I began to look at the fights:  When I was in Limit Point mode, the number of Limit Points I received was substantially higher than the number of Experience Points I received for the same monsters under the same conditions (no Tactics Pearl quest, so no reduction for Adventuring Fellows)...

Try 75-100% higher...  A 25-30 XP monster was giving me 50-55 LP.  A 45 XP Thinker might get me 85 LP.

So, needless to say, it got GM'ed.  And the GM, who shall remain nameless for security purposes, ruled the above a legal and intended game mechanic, not an exploit.

I'm not exactly sure why that ruling was made, but, until I hear different...  I'm not at all certain that that's not a problem with the coding of how LP are applied in a level-restricted area such as a Promyvion...

And that gets to my question:  Are they just making these rulings up not to rock the boat?  This sounds an exploit, unless XP:LP is not 1:1...

Puzzled about this one...

Square-Enix, clean up your damned game. The RMT's even, now, have the upper hand...

I could go into length as to how pissed off I am at the people who run FFXI at this point, and the fraud they perpetrate (again, how much of that fraud they are directly responsible for is another matter, but...).

But today kinda finally tipped the scales on one thing as I am preparing to finally hit DRG 75 in a day or two.

RMT is winning.  The Special Task Force is losing.

How do I say this?

The efforts of a single RMT website, which will not be stated here for advertisement, to subvert what obviously was done at the last update to prevent players from using the POL message system -- they now take completely-disposable characters and spam advertisements through /tells to all the 75's they can find.

/blist doesn't work on them, GM's.  They're banned and replaced so quickly, it's not even funny.

Ignoring them doesn't either -- unless you simply want us to ignore all the rules violations which go on in the game.

Let's put it this way:  This was at least the sixth or seventh RMT tell from this website in the last month or so.

Square-Enix is losing -- RMT is winning, and I had something to say to the Special Task Force in the latest e-mail I sent to them:

This is getting REAL DAMNED STUPID!  They DON’T CARE about losing the characters.  Your company just got a six-figure judgement against some people illegally selling swords like ones in earlier Square-Enix games.

What RMT is doing is the illegal sale of proprietary licensed Square-Enix merchandise.

SHUT THEM DOWN.

CLEAN UP YOUR DAMN GAME!  (And not just the RMT, either…)

Yep, the Asura Disease Nearly Got Leviathan's Astral Candescence...

We just had (for what has to be the first time in ages) a Last Stand at the Astral Candescence on Leviathan.

Doubleheader -- Undead got Mihli and ALL the healing supplies.  Mamool Ja pretty much cleaned our clocks.  But the Last Stand held, and we're still holding the AC at 478 consecutive wins.

And _again_ people were asking for non-Besieged parties...  Even after it should've been evident to anyone we were in trouble...

--

Quick Update:

Still DRG 74.  Too pissed off at the fuckers to grind the last 20K.

MNK 61.

Completed Dancers in Distress and about to plant Cerrunos. (the bulb)

Wednesday Dynamis:  Sandy.  Declared for DRG with one other, both of us got drops.  (Now 4/5 in Shadow Lord Dynamis zones.  (only head if left, but that's Ice, and we haven't done more than an Ice farming run since I joined, and I didn't do that one...)

Hey, you -- yeah, you, Aneiro...

I decided to take a look at the latest LBR homepage to see what was up with Aneiro and the like, and saw his bitch-rant about G4 and their coverage of Square-Enix' replacement of FFXI with Rapture.

He decided to take issue with some of the comments the (admittedly snarky) host had about the game and its players...  So I decided to take a look at them and have a few words of my own...

"Square-Enix, the company that makes games for guys who still think girls are icky..."

Sorry, bitch:  The truth hurts (at least vis-a-vis the American side of the demographic).  The only real foray that Square-Enix really seemed to make into the female demographic was FFX-2, a game (wrongly, IMODO) slammed as "too girly", "not Final Fantasy", etc.

And, if you take a look at several of the main ideas behind FFXI, you realize, fairly quickly, that the game is basically lying when it gives the "Get a Life" message before one logs in:

First, the insane amount of time it takes to do anything.  LFP??  Wait two hours.  CoP Mission??  Wait two weeks.  Endgame??  Wait two years!!

Second, the conduct of the player-base.  All the cheating, dick jokes, and hacking which is going on all over the game is not only making the game unplayable (in some ways, physically unplayable), but it clearly indicates that the demographic Square-Enix has captured is the kind which not only would find girls icky, but girls would find dangerous.

Third, the set-up of some of the characters (especially, oh, the Mithra...).  This is actually fairly common in Square-Enix lore...  (Rikku, anyone?  FFVII:AC Tifa?  Almost any of the ladies from FFXII???  Some of the creative camera shots of Lilisette in the cutscene ending "Dancers in Distress"???)  It's basically fan service, and that's all that is...

I could go several more here, but that first snarky comment probably simply hit Aneiro a little too close to home or something, because, if you actually take a look at it, it is true.  Square-Enix, for some odd reason or another, got away from making epic games at some point and started simply making epic grinds (in several forms of that term).  For people who actually have a life (or, more like in my case, for people for whom it is safe enough to "have a life"), Square-Enix games, especially the latter FF series, are not appealing to them.  I do believe that started with FFXI.

Then, the host basically slams the anime-like mega-hoarding otaku-ness of most apparent FF fans.

Newsflash:  That's accurate too, especially if you take a look at all the different merchandising tactics that Square-Enix has in play for the Final Fantasy franchise.

Go to an anime convention, and look at the Dealers' Room.  If you're finding any other game franchise that even has one-fourth of the stuff that FF puts out, then you're finding a more diverse collection of game memorabilia than anything I've seen.

Face it, the Final Fantasy series has fallen to the realm of that of the otaku.

I mean, I've been proud of being a Final Fantasy fan for many years -- up until I saw how much a lot of little boys (and a few little girls) have spit all over FFXI and made it into an utter joke.  That is now, more and more, becoming true of Square-Enix as a whole.

Perhaps if Square-Enix were not perpetrating a damned fraud of an MMO (and how much they are responsible for that fraud is still unknown) with even more of a damned fraud of a player base (especially the Americans therein), maybe Square-Enix could get a little respect.  And maybe comments like those of the host might serve as a bit of a wake-up call as to the laughing the gaming community (especially here in America) has for not only Square-Enix but its players.

Perhaps if they could make a game which basically didn't appear to allow players to hack in server-side and fuck around with the Internet connections to gain an unfair advantage, or RMT their way to thousands of dollars, or...

You get the point.

Continuing to the additional comments of the host:

"Could we be talking about Final Fantasy 14?"  No.  We're talking about Rapture here.  This has already been known for about a month or so.  Final Fantasy XI is officially dead, but will continue (I guess, though it really shouldn't...) as long as it can milk the players dry.  I mean, a "Security Token"??  I mean, has anyone realized that there are means by which people can remotely seize control of computers?  All this "Security Token" is is another money-making means by Square-Enix.  I might consider it if the in-game item is good enough, but question its effectiveness in the day and age where people can actually get in server-side and screw with the packets/connections such that they have claim to a monster before it even pops.

The comment in the corner of the screen is "Keep Dreaming"...  That depends...

We already know that Midway Games (of Mortal Kombat fame) has gone bankrupt.

Now (and I saw a second slam against the otaku-collectors of FF stuff), one has to wonder if (not unlike anime, and even then, to a lesser and lesser extent) the merchandise is keeping the Final Fantasy franchise afloat.

It will be at least another year before FFXIII comes out, and, with each passing week, it becomes more and more real that the PS3 is going to be obsolete by the time FFXIII comes out.

What other oars do they really have in the water right now, but the Stuffed Chocobo this and the Full-Size Buster Sword that??

Given this economy, is there any real guarantee that even FFXIII makes it out before Square-Enix goes tits up, much less Rapture?

This is why I tell Square-Enix to either clean up FFXI or get rid of it and save your resources!

The thing of it is, yes -- it's supposed to be a bit of a light-hearted look at all of this.

But, and I say this directly to you, Aneiro: THE TRUTH FUCKING HURTS, DOESN'T IT???

The only comment I can see in that entire situation which was completely inaccurate was that Rapture might turn out to be FFXIV.  Other than that, the host was completely on the mark.

Have a nice day, Aneiro.  Sounds like you need a few.

Quickie beginning-of-week update...

Just a little bit:

DRG 74, MNK 60

Last Sunday's Dynamis:  Didn't attend.

Wednesday's:  Jeuno win.  DRG hands.

Yesterday's:  Snow win.  DRG body.  DNC legs.

If people think they've been pissed off about me before...

... this isn't going to help matters.

I've removed all the Favorite Links from my blog, because, frankly, of a letter I received about my feelings about race and culture peppered throughout this blog.  Aneiro, fine.  They're gone.  Perhaps they should just send a letter to Square-Enix to have me banned because of it too.

If you've got a problem with me being racist because I'm sick and tired of the culture I see (whether it be the black hip-hop culture, the white people wanting to be black, the American gamers I'd like to take a small thermonuclear bomb to if I had the chance, or whatever...), then call up Square-Enix and have me tossed.

I'm done being "tolerant" simply to be politically correct.  And if you want nothing to do with me as a result, fine and so be it.

I do not respect people -- largely because I know (before I get started with people) that I will not be respected in return because I don't bend over and kiss people's asses and subserviate myself to the popular or physically dominant culture.  I don't bend over and "respect and represent" because of the fact that I could be threatened at every turn by bunches of people (of many races -- some wanting to be others) who don't care about anything more than throwing their crap music down our throats at earthquake levels and the like.

(And I've been attacked on more than one occasion because I'm the first "White Boy" some punk idiot has wanted to jump...)

You don't like how I look at people differently for their culture.  Kill me or get off my back, because I can tell you that's what IS going to happen once a lot of this "thug life" becomes more prevalent in society and can't be dealt with anymore.

I know I'm a Dead Man Walking.  I get that.  And I figure it's either going to be because of some of these thugs (of whichever culture of such you choose), or it's going to be because the cops finally have to shoot me first.

If you feel insulted by that, good.  Maybe it might get you to take a look at things.

I'm done respecting a culture which breeds the likes of Chris Brown, TO, Michael Vick, etc. and so forth.  The black hip-hop "me-first" culture is a violent culture which needs to be dealt with on a cultural level or their violence is going to become accepted and reinforced.

I'm done respecting a (different) culture which breeds the likes of these people who believe it necessary to cheat the fuck out of this game and spit in the face of anyone who demands otherwise.  That "me-first" culture has killed Final Fantasy XI -- made it unplayable.

I would rather be banned from Final Fantasy XI for my political views and for the willingness to express them (or, at minimum, be shunned as THE Most Hated Person in Vana'diel) than be forced to accept a culture (these or others) I find reprehensible.

I hate everybody, when it comes right down to it.  I hate the hip-hopper thugs, I hate the American cheaters, I hate the steroid pigs, I hate the Wall Street sows...

I just wonder how a lot of those who don't like me coming out and saying it would think of a certain Dr. William Cosby right about now...